The plan was jointly announced by 10 government agencies, including the state planning National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, the online edition of Securities Times quoted the China Energy News as saying.

By 2019, half of northern China would have converted to clean heating, reducing bulk coal burning by 74 million tonnes, it said.

It gave no further details.

Factories are closing or operating at reduced capacity, businesses are seeing profits shrink as supply chains are disrupted, and residents are struggling to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures without adequate heating at home or in classrooms, according to interviews conducted by Reuters across the region this month.

The campaign to convert coal to gas is part of long-running government efforts to clean the region’s toxic air after decades of unbridled economic growth. (Reporting by Judy Hua and Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Stephen Coates)